In a word Malcolm. NO. the stuff is very thin anyway. If you try and pare it ,it would be like trying to pare an old bed sheet . Lots of fraying. I have several bits here in Swanage if anyone wants to try some. You could try sanding the edges, that also will allow the glue to take hold because this stuff is particularly glue unfriendly. Us in the Trade hate using it . The Original Rexine was just as bad. (Incidentally, it is the only trademarked " Rexine" name in the OED, Oxford English Dictionary)

I'm quite alarmed to hear that buckram repels glues!. I can buy this material in a 1040mm width by the linear metre from the bookbinding suppliers in Scotland for slightly less than £13 inc VAT but then there's a whopping £6.00 p&p charge! So for £19.00 I get what I need with enough left over to do at least nine similar melodeons.

Thankfully I can buy the same material cut to size elsewhere so I won't have loads left over! Two 1mt lengths 50mm wide will do the job but that will cost £5.99 plus p&p, that's around £60.00 per square metre compared to £18 + with lots left over to share! Dilemma.

You could go with leather as an alternative. Not particularly inexpensive, but I've used it on one of my "wide frame" Hohners to good effect. Probably not as hard-wearing as Rexine (or Rexine-substitute) though. Just a thought....

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Tuner/repairer, now retired, but still playing! Happy to offer advice on repairs etc., and might be persuaded to undertake the odd emergency job for local and longtime customers.

I'm quite alarmed to hear that buckram repels glues!. I can buy this material in a 1040mm width by the linear metre from the bookbinding suppliers in Scotland for slightly less than £13 inc VAT but then there's a whopping £6.00 p&p charge! So for £19.00 I get what I need with enough left over to do at least nine similar melodeons.

Reading back, I think it's the Rexine lookalike that is glue-unfriendly, not buckram. Maybe Mr. Nick can confirm ?

Yes it's Rexine. But even modern Buckram on its face side is difficult. It has a waterproof coating.Rexine is "hairy" on its glue side and takes ages to stick.Leather, although it takes a little skill to prepare,is perfect and paste should be used not PVA

So presumably overlapping Buckram is not the preferred method, and therefore butt joints are used?

I have a German concertina of indeterminate age that appears to use buckram, or a similar material, which appears to have been stretched around the bellows end frames in much the same way as leather. I was wondering how they'd achieved that, since I don't think of buckram as stretching easily.

Nick - do you use corn paste for buckram also?

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Dino BPII. My wife seems to have claimed the Liliput. "Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."

If you make an overlap join at the back corner it is out of sight and most is hidden by the metal corner pieces.I've used buckram and Rexine, applied with bookbinders pva and never had a problem with adhesion.

... this box will be restored as and when finances allow to B/E at A=332. ...

That'd be pretty low, your A would be sounding about 14 cents sharp of a "concert pitch" E... (But I guess that's a typo for A=432 )

In fact, it can be pretty difficult to establish exactly what pitch an old box like this is meant to be in, because they were tuned to "just intonation" - and that means note values are variable, depending on the key(s) you're dealing with. So if you want to "keep the flavour" of the original tuning, you might need to listen carefully to the tuning and work from what seems to be in tune with itself, only correcting what obviously isn't...

OK. Flour or Rice flour for paste, when using leather. Soak it well in the stuff and it will remain pliable and mouldable for ages. If you edge pare the leather and using a strip about an inch wide it's ideal for wrapping around tool handles for a nicer grip. For Buckram and other bookcloths we use PVA but we mix it about 50/50 with paste. This gives it a longer "'open time" so you can frab about with the corners before it goes off . We in the workshop call it Jollop! For Rexine we use neat PVA and start sticking down just before it goes off we call this STAB, from the well known saying " sticks like s..t to a blanket"

In fact, it can be pretty difficult to establish exactly what pitch an old box like this is meant to be in, because they were tuned to "just intonation" - and that means note values are variable, depending on the key(s) you're dealing with. So if you want to "keep the flavour" of the original tuning, you might need to listen carefully to the tuning and work from what seems to be in tune with itself, only correcting what obviously isn't...

Paul G. has mentioned the value of recording the tuning settings of vintage instruments (that appear to be original, and not re-tuned), to at least get an archival snapshot of the manner temperaments of older instruments were configured. I think that's a valuable excercise, as many of the old tunings are quite lovely. Then they could be retuned and duplicated at modern pitch, if desired. Many folks have a Dirks' tuning program, and the "Record and Report" feature makes quick work of cataloging the original tuning.

OK. Flour or Rice flour for paste, when using leather. Soak it well in the stuff and it will remain pliable and mouldable for ages.

Which is why it was commonly used in making (leather) concertina bellows...

Oh, and probably because they were originally made by bookbinders too!

Ho Ho, yes and no Stephen.Apart from me I don't know any famous Bookbinders. Apart from Roger Payne 1739 to 1797 ( well worth looking up)The name that springs to mind is Sir Charles Wheatstone. He was an amazing pioneer in electricity,But for some unknown reason invented, with others the Concertina . Again he's well worth looking up.

I am not familiar with "Rexine", but have deduced it's a modern alternative to buckram. Just a cautionary note here.....back when Richard Morse introduced his concertinas, I ordered one, a Trillium C/G anglo #32. The bellows were covered with a synthetic material that was used in the bookbinding profession. The material was not bad looking, and quite flexible...but...after a few months of playing, the product showed cracks and other deterioration from repeated flexing. When I brought the matter to the attention of the Buttonbox, they had me return the instrument, and to their credit, returned it after some weeks with new leather covered bellows. Not sure what the tradename of the synthetic was, but it was a 'bust' as bellows covering. AFAIK, they abandoned the use of that product.

OK. Flour or Rice flour for paste, when using leather. Soak it well in the stuff and it will remain pliable and mouldable for ages.

Which is why it was commonly used in making (leather) concertina bellows...

Oh, and probably because they were originally made by bookbinders too!

Ho Ho, yes and no Stephen.

Nick,

I think you may have misunderstood me, but 19th century concertina bellows (especially the earliest ones, which have folded-over "bookbinder corners") often involved the work of bookbinders - indeed, I found (from census records) that the most famous bellows maker of them all, "Mrs. Jeffries," had worked as a bookbinder before her marriage. The materials and techniques are, after all, the same, whilst even when the bellows were made by the concertina maker, they would always be sent out to a bookbinder if gold-tooling was required.

I am not familiar with "Rexine", but have deduced it's a modern alternative to buckram. Just a cautionary note here.....back when Richard Morse introduced his concertinas, I ordered one, a Trillium C/G anglo #32. The bellows were covered with a synthetic material that was used in the bookbinding profession. The material was not bad looking, and quite flexible...but...after a few months of playing, the product showed cracks and other deterioration from repeated flexing. ... AFAIK, they abandoned the use of that product.

Maybe 40 years ago, Steve Dickinson (C. Wheatstone & Co.) tried using Rexine for a while to make less-expensive concertina bellows (in fact I've a set of his Rexine "butterfly bellows" on the concertina tuning-bellows that his brother Geoff made for me), but found it not successful.